The Star reported on Tuesday expelled ANC Youth League President Julius Malema opened a case against his childhood friend Boy Mamabolo over a threatening SMS, say reports.

Mamabolo, a loyal supporter of President Jacob Zuma, allegedly threatened to exhume Malema's mother's remains and throw them in front of his grandmother's house in Seshego, Limpopo.

The SMS read: "This time I want to show you that I am more brutal and exhume Mahlodi [Malema's mother] from the grave and lay her in front of [your grandmother's house]. You have done many bad things to me."

The threat could be in retaliation for Malema allegedly asking Limpopo ANC Youth League secretary Jacob Lebogo and his ally, Jossie Buthane, to sleep with Mamabolo's girlfriend.

'Distasteful and scary'
Mamabolo admitted on Monday he sent the message to Malema, but claimed he was provoked.

"I first phoned him to say I wanted to order cabbages," Mamabolo said.

Malema, who ventured into farming after his expulsion from the youth league, now sells cabbages and other vegetables from his Polokwane farm.

Mamabolo said Malema had first insulted him on the phone. But Malema dismissed the claims.

"I have never spoken to Boy. He sent me an SMS to say 'I sympathise with you', and I responded [by SMS] to ask who it was," Malema said. "He said it was Boy, and I said 'never use this number again'."

Malema said the insulting message followed.

"He brings the dead to the whole picture. I find it distasteful and scary ... I know I am a target of assault. People are looking for me to make a single mistake and finish me."

He said he would protect himself and his late mother from hooligans.

"Because when you insult me about my mother, you really get to me," Malema said.

Burnt coffins and burnt bridges
Mamabolo's spat with Malema has a history. In a previous publicity stunt Mamabolo burnt a mock coffin to celebrate Malema's expulsion from the ANC.

Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi has confirmed that Malema had opened a crimen injuria case against Mamabolo.

"That woman is [too] ugly for my liking. She is not in my league," Buthane said.

He added he respected other people's relationships. Lebogo could not be reached for comment.

Lonely
Mamabolo is not the only friend Malema is on bad terms with.

He recently stated that he is being deserted by his friends, who now treat him as leper.

"I have lost a lot of friends. I am one person who believes that those who leave you during difficult moments were never with you even before ... " he said in an interview with the Rapport and City Press newspapers.

"We've seen friends vacillating. We've seen friends bowing to the pressure of the enemy. We've seen friends speaking in tongues and some are even so ashamed to be seen with you in public because to them you look like you've got leprosy and some don't even take your calls. If they do, they are very impatient," he told the newspapers. – Additional reporting by Sapa